Hay Hoe BP Service station situated at 6 Underwood Road Pinetown is making a donation to TMC for every litre of petrol sold to a TMC parent. Each parent should a received their card in the last week of last term. Your card number will be recorded with the number of litres purchased by the card holder. In addition TMC parents who use this petrol station will be entered into a monthly draw for a food/goodie hamper to the value of R250-00 and 2 free car washes. Simply by filling up at Hay Hoe Service Station you are supporting the fundraising initiative for our 2016 Overseas Tours. Thereafter, the funds raised by the Hay Hoe Service Station initiative will go towards Parents' Council Fundraising.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Calling a little child forward, he had him stand among them. Then he said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:1-3

Working with children I often use this scripture as they constantly give me a new insight, not only about themselves but also what Jesus meant by this scripture, for they give us an awareness of the nature and character of God. Firstly, trust - children have the amazing capacity to trust. So should we. So does God - He trusts us - He has entrusted us with life. Secondly, children have the time of day for you. A child always wants to spend time with you. So does God. Do we have the time of day for others – do people matter to us? Lastly, we often, when we get older, wish we could go back to being a child, when life just seemed simpler. Maybe our priorities are a bit messed up. We cram so much into our day and surrounded our lives with so many things that it seems to make life so stressful. Jesus gave us one command “Love one another as I have loved you” John 15:12. What couldn’t be more simpler? The catch is living it out, which is a whole lot harder but we have a life time to work on it and our Lord to help us to achieve it.

Congratulations to the 2016 Matric Leadership Council (MLC) Heads that were announced in the High School
Assembly this morning. They are:

Head Boy: Karabo Malahleha Deputy Head Boy: Jared Swift

Head Girl: Amy Balarin Deputy Head Girl: Summer Robertson

This is an entirely democratic appointment and it is extremely rewarding to see just how sensible and mature the pupil vote was. These are four very fine young people who will make wonderful ambassadors for Thomas More College. The announcements were extremely well received by the pupil body. The
Grade 11 pupils have already been put into their portfolio groups and all will work to lead the school in their different areas of interest next
year. This has proved to be a very innovative and successful leadership model. Everyone remains motivated, valued and involved throughout the year, unlike a prefect system where rejection and disappointment can be extremely damaging.

Messrs Chandler, Taljard, Hornsey and I spent the last 4 days at the annual conference of the
Heads of Independent Schools. In this era of the technology revolution, it was exciting to see that there is a huge emphasis
on ethical and moral education. The internet is source of much good and certainly some evil, and values education is going to play a pivotal role in the good schools of the future.

I have just returned from an invigorating and stimulating Annual Head’s Conference. It is inspiring to realise just how many good leaders there are out there, from high fee paying schools, to low fee paying urban and rural institutions. The education sphere has had very negative press over the last few months, but there is outstanding work being done in so many areas of the country, and I salute these people and their work.

Thought for the week: “We are not born with hate and fear. They are learnt behaviours”.

Despite the distances travelled to get to the Heads’ conference (it was in Polokwane), it was a worthwhile experience. Not only does it keep one in touch with best current practice but it is also a time for collegiality, sharing ideas with other
Heads dealing with similar issues, challenges and concerns. The theme "It’s not on top but inside”
was a good one. It is reaffirming to know that Thomas More is up there with the best of schools!
Our congratulations as a school to our Executive Principal, Mr Shane Cuthbertson
on his appointment as the SAHISA (South African Heads of Independent Schools
Association) National Chairman.

I know our Grade 4 and 5 pupils were very excited this morning as they set off with their teachers on their annual grade trips, to Roselands and Twinstreams respectively. We know they are in capable hands and that they will enjoy the experience. They both return on Wednesday, in time to relax and enjoy the upcoming long week-end. Similarly our Grade 7 Zulu pupils are in for a treat when they visit Ecohambanba, an ethnic cultural set-up near the Albert Falls Dam on Tuesday and Wednesday - such a fitting experience to mark Heritage Day, which has resulted in the long weekend!

Best wishes too to our Grade1s for their trip to Ushaka and our Grade 2s for their outing to the Botanical Gardens, both on Wednesday this week.

We hope all our families will be able to celebrate traditions endemic to your family as we remember to celebrate our cultural heritage and all its richness. After the hectic programme of the last few weeks it will also be an opportunity to recharge batteries ready for the last few days of term.

Both phases of the Primary School will be hosting their parent interviews next week- the Foundation Phase with the teachers in their classrooms (please use booking schedules on the doors) on both Tuesday and Wednesday and the Senior Primary in the Habberton Hall, from 16:30 -18:30 on the Tuesday only. This is a valuable opportunity to connect with the various teachers and find out how your child is faring, and we do hope, with no reports this term, that you will avail yourself of this.

Congratulations to Savanna Daubinet who has been selected for the KZN U16A Soccer Team.

KZN Action Netball

After a successful 2015 year in U13 KZN Action Netball Team, Hanna Alexander & Ava Terblanche participated in the KZN Action Netball Trials in DBN North last weekend & have both been selected to represent KZN U14. They will be taking part in the interprovincial tournament in Midrand - Gauteng in March 2016.

Hanna and Ava will be part of the Vicky Wilson Netball training camp in Stellenbosch during the October school holidays & then will be travelling to USA in September 2016 to take part in the Action Netball Disney Youth Tournament.Well done girls, we are very proud you.

Gymnastics

Congratulations to Demi-Lee Penny and Taija Olivier who
both participated in a gymnastics competition. Demi-Lee placed 3rd in her
age group. Both girls have made the KZN team and will compete in Pretoria
in the holidays.

Congratulations to Dayna Deeble on receiving 1st place
and a gold medal in her age group and Jade du Buisson on being placed 3rd with a
bronze medal at Natal Championships. Both Dayna & Jake will now travel to
Pretoria to compete in the South African Champs in October.

Mini-Hockey

Congratulations to Megan Hoogerheijde who was awarded
the Sportsmanship Award at the Kearsney Mini-Hockey Awards evening.

Equestrian

Congratulations to Rachel Kerdachi, who attained the following equestrian achievements in 2015:

- Selected to represent KZN in the Pony Rider Interprovincial Team and was awarded full KZN Provincial Colours.

- Represented KZN at the 2015 Pony Rider Show Jumping Championships of South Africa.

Congratulations to Grace Youldon who took part in her
first horse riding show over the weekend, at JoJo's Riding Centre. Grace
managed a clear round. Well done.

District Water Polo

The following girls were selected for their various District Water Polo Teams:

U14A – Claire Vosters and Charmonè Roberts

U15A – Kimberly Lerwick, Estrelita Kotzé and Siyamthanda Luthuli

U15B – Lauren Waltham and Cassidy Blackbeard

U16A – Ashley Harper, Jenna Sykes, Caitlin-Rose Torry

U19A – Amari Dekker, Rebecca Duthie and Leah Sim

U19B – Casey Houston, Anneke Steyn and Hannah Banfield

The following boys were selected for their various
District Water Polo Teams:

U16A - Andrew Smith

U16B - Jono Morgan

U19A - James King

U19B - Tom Lütz

U19B - Josh Cawood

U19B - Jared Swift

SP Girls' Hockey vs St Mary's

U10 A lost 0-5

U10 B lost 0-1

U11 A drew 1-1

U11 B lost 1-3

U11 C lost 1-3

1st XI lost 0-4

2nd XI lost 0-1

SP Girls' Hockey vs Crawford NC

U10 A won 2-1

U10 B drew 1-1

U11 A won 1-0

U11 B won 3-0

1st XI won 3-0

2nd XI won 1-0

SP Boys’ Hockey Results vs Sarnia

U10 A won 6-0

U10 B drew 3-3

U10 C lost 2-12

U11 A won 4-1

U11 B won 3-1

1st XI won 4-0

2nd XI drew 0-0

SP Boys’ Hockey vs Umhlanga

U10 A lost 3-5

U10 B won 1-0

U10 C won 1-0

U11 A drew 2-2

U11 B won 3-1

1st XI won 6-0

2nd XI drew 1-1

Congratulations to the following athletes who have been
selected to represent the Kwasanti Ward at the Circuit Athletics trials.
The top 2 athletes go through to the next round and 3rd placed athletes are
reserves. These trials will take place in February 2016.

All of these calendars start out with basic information and then details are added as we find them out. E.g. at the start of a term, a subject test will be booked for a later date. As the time draws closer, the teacher is able to determine more fully what syllabus the class has managed to cover thus far, and will fill in details of what will be in the test at that stage.

It is important to note that this information is “live” and needs to be checked regularly. We have links to the different calendars available inside our website, found under the different Phase sections. We also have links to the same calendars inside the Parent Portal. The calendars that apply can be found under each of your child’s subheadings.

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The Horse’s Mouth Newsletter has all calendar links available to be able to easily find whichever calendars you need to.

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How to use the Google Calendar:

After you have clicked on the relevant calendar link, it will show you the default monthly view of the calendar:

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There are navigation buttons at the top left to change dates easily to look back or to future events:

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You are able to change the view of the calendar using the buttons at the top right to show only a week at a time, the default monthly view, or if you click on “Agenda” then you will see a list of events scheduled:

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Please note – it is not a good idea to print the calendar out, as the information might get updated and you will not realize this if you are referring to a print out of a calendar at a certain point in time.

To see more details about a heading in the calendar, you need to click on that heading – it will pop-up a small window giving you what details have been filled in already. This is where we have information such as which teams are playing and times, and also what material will be covered in a test/examination:

It is important to note here that it is also not a good idea to click on the bottom option “Copy to my calendar” here, for the same reason as printing, you will not receive updated information if anything changes in the live calendar.